OUR WORK
“the vision is to create a living location of the best kind of localized-focused community on turtle island… not necessarily as a model for others, but as a profoundly wiser, connected, learned community in which all who engage are welcomed, challenged with big ideas, and have space for responding to the real living needs of those who make up this community” - Chris Wood, BALE Founder
BALE (Building A Local Economy) is a community resource center in South Royalton, VT.
We see our work—along with our many inspiring collaborators—as building new, localized, resilient models grounded in a new story of how we live on the Earth.
We are intentionally multi-issue in focus and multi-dimensional in our programmatic work.
At core, our vision is to build a sustainable culture that can foster the economic and ecological capacity in our communities to survive through mutual interdependence and communal care. How can we thrive as external forces (climate disruption, economic and systems instability, systemic scarcity) threaten our existence as a species?
Our work is focused on
appropriate scale
valuing the commons
and creating community-driven assets.
We know we have so much to learn, and seeing that tremendous creativity is awakening in this time, we focus on such things as gratitude, conscious living and valuing what is important to the human spirit.
Our Vision
Engage as many folks as possible in the deep reasons for addressing our failing climate and extreme economic inequality.
Offer intelligent programming that explores understanding of our historical moment and inspire efforts to be change agents in the way we live our lives.
Build a base of transformative leaders in the face of challenges we face.
AND, crucially, build the new models that sustain a resilient, community-driven experience of the world and our place in it.
OUR PROJECTS
Royalton Farmers Market
Events & Programming
White River Gallery
Fiscal Sponsorship
Documentary Film: Dancing with the Cannibal Giant
OUR CIRCLE
Chris Wood, Founder: In addition to serving on numerous community boards and organizations, Chris has founded or co-founded many nonprofit Vermont organizations over the last 45 years including Rural Vermont, Vermont Community Loan Fund, Rainbow Coalition of Vermont, Vermont Resource Cooperative, Vermont Community Reinvestment Association, Onion River Arts Council, Vermont Committee on Southern Africa, Focus on Film, Vermont Jobs with Justice, Vermont Consumers’ Campaign for Health, Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance, Green Mountain Film Festival, Studio Place Arts, and Royalton Community Radio. His strength is networking, collaboration, and working with diverse groups/participants to strengthen community goals. He also co-founded the quirky and beloved Horn of the Moon Café in Montpelier over 45 years ago.
Elena Greenlee, Executive Director, comes to her work at BALE from her experience as a writer, and award-winning independent filmmaker (MFA Tisch School of the Arts), a mother, and a ritualist who is interested in the power of community and culture to liberate us into fuller, more connected lives.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family of both immigrants and Americans, she has been working as a translator, and culture bridger ever since.
Elena moved to Vermont in 2017, to a home where she spent her childhood vacations climbing apple trees and running a summer camp for frogs. While raising her own family here, Elena is deeply committed to continuing in her grandparents legacy of community service and civic engagement in South Royalton. She is drawn to BALE by the dream of living a truly localized and rooted life, sharing deep caring and joyful communion with her neighbors of the human and more than human world.
BALE Board:
Sue Schlabach: created BALE’s logo in its early days and joined the advisory board to create inserts, local guides, tshirts and other design materials. In 2019 she formally joined the board. Sue lives in East Barnard where she writes the East Barnard Village Crier, and is active in community events in her tiny town. Community-building and working as a solopreneur in art, teaching, archival printing and design are among her efforts in the region. Sue leads the Art Gallery Committee at BALE and also hosts creative co-working hours on Mondays. Contact Sue HERE.
Earl Hatley: is an experienced environmental organizer who utilizes his training and experience to serve as a consultant to tribal and non-tribal groups (non-profits & tribal governments). He has served as an environmental consultant to Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, as well as indigenous grassroots groups around the country. Earl’s work has included helping tribal governments to develop environmental programs, water and air quality monitoring projects, write quality control instruments, write grants, conduct culturally based risk assessments, and conduct hazardous waste site investigations. Earl also serves as an organizing consultant to national and state-wide non-profit groups, including Western Mining Action Network and the Indigenous Environmental Network. He is an enrolled citizen of the Missisquoi Band of Abenaki Nation with Cherokee/Shawnee heritage and a disabled veteran. Earl leads the Programming Commitee at BALE and is dedicated to bringing indigeneity into our work and Indigenous wisdom into our community. Contact Earl HERE.
Lynne Hadley: Lynne Hadley, M.Ed. is 63. She lives and works out of her strawbale home/studio in Tunbridge; where she serves individuals and groups as a coach, somatic healer, and movement educator. She has participated in building local community in Vermont since the mid-80's. Lynne advises on BALE operating strategy as well as somatic programming and offers a monthly Grandmother Council ceremony in the commons. Contact Lynne HERE.
Shelby Kalm: is an artist and passionate advocate for equitable food systems, land access, and community-driven change. Shelby brings a deep commitment to racial and environmental justice, informed by years of collaboration with farmers, land stewards, and community leaders. Her work has included networking weaving and coalition building—all grounded in values of equity, care, and collective liberation. Shelby is a member of the BALE Resistance Hub leading community outreach, education, and communication. Contact Shelby HERE.
Tony Bednar: is marketing director for a local arts organization with a background in advertising and business administration. He is also a father, percussionist, DJ, event producer and sound healing practitioner living in South Royalton, VT. Tony helps BALE expand it’s gift economy and other alternative economy programs and supports our Mutual Aid projects. Contact Tony HERE.
BALE Circle:
Blake Whitehead, Jessamine Kelley, Sylvie Desautels, Francine Miller, Isabella O’Conner and many more…
